Brussels Airlines Flew More People, Earned More Money, and Lost Half Again as Much

Brussels Airlines reported an adjusted operating loss of 70 million euros for the first six months of the year, half again as large as the loss over the same period last year. Revenue rose 9 percent to 821 million euros. The airline carried 4.5 million passengers on 34,200 flights, up 8 percent and 5.5 percent respectively.

Those numbers do not obviously belong together. More passengers, more flights and more revenue, and a wider loss. The reconciliation is fuel: it cost 64 million euros more than in the first half of last year, on oil prices driven by unrest in the Middle East. Set that against a loss that grew by a little over 20 million euros and the shape of the year becomes clear. The commercial side worked. The input price moved further than the commercial side could cover.

Two other drags were named. An Ebola outbreak in East Africa hit a network where Africa is not a peripheral market but a core one, and a large part of what distinguishes this airline inside the Lufthansa group. Strikes by outside parties, which for an airline means air traffic control and ground handling rather than its own staff, took their usual toll.

The decision with the longest tail is the fleet. Two additional Airbus A330s will not join in 2027, contrary to what had been announced. Widebody capacity is what a long haul network grows on, and deferring it is the standard first move when a balance sheet needs protecting. It is reversible in principle and slow in practice, because delivery slots given up are not easily got back.

The chief financial officer, Nina Owerdieck, framed the summer as decisive for the full year result. That is less bleak than it sounds. European aviation loses money in the first half and makes it in the third quarter as a matter of routine, so a first half loss is not itself the story. Whether this summer is large enough to cover a hole of this size is.